


Must You Leave Me

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Death by Unspecified Battle Wounds, Deathfic, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, NO COMFORT AT ALL, Sad Ending, ambiguous ending, honorable discharge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 06:31:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15701757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: Anakin falls in battle. Obi-Wan feels as if life itself has ceased, and merely waits to rejoin his brother.





	Must You Leave Me

**Author's Note:**

> Additional Warnings: Obi-Wan will be indifferent whether he lives or dies, leaning in the direction of feeling like it would be a relief if an enemy kills him. He also experiences some damage (Perhaps from the Force bond breaking?) making tactical analysis no longer his strong point. It is so invasive that he has to leave the military. Also: brief mention of public opinion on Corucsant concerning the war & war vets. (Split- Disgust because he's not "visibly" wounded and "should still be out there", or war protestors who aren't the kind sort.)
> 
> Also brief mention of blood. And brief mention of lung tissue being coughed up. It takes up less time & space than this warning.
> 
> One last note: This story implies that more of Obi-Wan's childhood friends are dead than is true at this point in canon.
> 
> Those seem to be all the warnings required for this 800 word story.

 

Obi-Wan was weeping.

It wasn't something usual for Anakin, if only he'd had the energy to feel shock.

As it was, he felt right on that edge of pleasant exhaustion where you just _know_ you're going to sleep well that night as you crawl into bed.

Only... the warm comfort of this sensation was marred by uncontrollable shaking in his limbs, and a knife edge of pain. He couldn't even really tell where, it was just  _there,_ and it marred the safe coziness of the moment.

Fire and bolts and explosions lit Obi-Wan's face, turning his tears a glittering red. Sweat mixed with the blood and dirt on his face, despite the coolness of the night, and he looked utterly distraught.

“Please don't go,” Obi-Wan begged, bending over him, looking ready to shatter.

Anakin wanted to speak, but found the only thing he could drag from his lungs was blood. And oh, look at that. A little tissue too, apparently.

“Please!”

Reality seemed to twist as nausea set in and Anakin's head spun. He closed his eyes against the reeling sky, wishing he could block out the thundering of the battle.

He needed to sleep a little. He'd get back to everything after the vertigo left. A very... very short nap.

 

* * *

 

The figure didn't move as the tide turned ill, as the line broke, as his position was overrun.

Dooku walked up to it, and stared down at it long before it bothered to look up.

Skywalker's wounds were hideous, and the boy was gone.

The man clutching the body close didn't seem particularly less dead as blank eyes found Dooku's.

“Sir,” one of the droids asked, “do we take him prisoner?”  
Kenobi simply looked at him, no curiosity in his eyes,  _nothing._ Just waiting to see what would be done to him.

For a long moment Dooku looked back, and in those eyes he read the account of Kenobi's life. “No,” he said at last. “Move forward. We will pursue until dawn.”  
And so the droid army swept on, parting around both the breathing and the unbreathing dead, and left them far behind.

And still Kenobi held Skywalker.

 

* * *

 

In the end it was Windu who scoured the fields, hours after, having slipped through enemy lines for the express purpose, to find the corpses of the Order's finest.

He found them.

One he had to leave behind.

The other he carried.

Not a word of protest escaped the one he took with him.

 

* * *

 

“I don't even know where Ahsoka is, or how to reach her to let her know.”

Plo Koon had been sitting with the bereaved man for half an hour before Kenobi spoke.

The first words out of his mouth since Windu had salvaged what was left of him.

Plo's heart ached for both Obi-Wan and little 'Soka.

Kenobi stared down at his hands, but no tears came.

Nothing but empty loss.

 

* * *

 

Reeft came out to see him.

Obi-Wan found he could only see the corpses of Bant and Garen and Siri and Quinlan.

He also found they had nothing in common anymore, except the distant past and the dead.

Reeft left, and Obi-Wan stood alone on the bridge, staring out at the stars, feeling nothing at all.

Qui-Gon. Satine. Anakin.

Ahsoka long gone, who knew where.

He was done. Force help him, he was so very done.

 

* * *

 

His brilliant mind didn't work anymore.

At least, not for war.

They pulled him off active duty, to protect his men. Obi-Wan could hardly argue with the decision.

Something had broken when Anakin died. The Mind Healers weren't sure that quick tactical analysis would ever return.

So they brought him home.

A hollowed-out war veteran, whose remaining people were still out there, on the field of battle.

He kept within the Temple most days, since his reception outside was split.

Half the people hated him because he wasn't out there fighting, when _clearly_ he wasn't injured enough to legitimize his retirement.

The other half hated him for ever having fought in a war at all. The protesters. The people claiming to value the soldiers' lives... but didn't really give a kark about their mental well-being upon returning home.

Obi-Wan found he didn't seem to belong anywhere anymore. Others seemed to think he did, but he felt... different.

He wasn't who he'd been when he shipped out that first time, two years ago.

When the traitor in the Senate was finally revealed, Obi-Wan was among the first to volunteer to face down the Sith.

He didn't particularly care if he walked away from that final battle or not, but he was willing to make sure Sidious never did.

He might as well go instead of another who might actually still _want_ to live.

 

 


End file.
